Pic Crillon (Le Piéroux) – Les Gicons · Dévoluy · France
Easy to bailBolting confidence: high
Steep, technical wall climbing up the west face of Pic Crillon on heavily sculpted limestone: seven pitches between 6a+ and 6c+ after an easy start, with good holds and rests but little that can be aided. It stays in the shade until early afternoon, so it works in a heatwave. Come with a 6c level to enjoy it; 6b is obligatory.
The route
This is the most popular hard route on Pic Crillon, the tower above the Gicons crag in the heart of the Dévoluy. After a rambling first pitch it climbs a steep and slightly overhanging wall, crosses a terrace, and then takes a steep slab, a thin traverse round an overhang and a long flight on good holds to the top. Recent parties praise the rock and the variety and find the grades fair, even friendly: several say the two 6c pitches would be 6b+ elsewhere, while the last pitch, with a hard traverse near its third bolt, feels close to 6c. The moves are hard to aid, so the 6b obligatory grade is real.
The climbing
| Pitch | Grade | Length | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | 4b | 40 m | A succession of short steps. A 2026 party says it is grade 5 throughout, never 4. |
| P2 | 6a+ | 40 m | One hard move in the last step. |
| P3 | 6c | 30 m | Sustained climbing up a steep, even slightly overhanging, wall on well-sculpted rock; read it carefully to save your arms and follow the bolt to the left. A nearby route passes right of the exit. The belay is on the left, joined by a wide sling. Short and physical. |
| P4 | 3b | 25 m | A linking pitch slanting left to a belay on the terrace at the foot of the steep slab. |
| P5 | 6c/6c+ | 40 m | A steep slab that is not obvious to read, sustained from bottom to top on small edges. Parties rate it the best pitch and several find it easier than pitch 3 because it is about footwork. |
| P6 | 6b | 40 m | Straight up, then a thin traverse and short steps. The first metres are not easy. |
| P7 | 6b+/6c | 10 m | Slant left to turn the overhang, then a thin traverse above it. At the start another route goes up right on grey bolts. It is simple and logical to link this with pitch 8. |
| P8 | 6c/6c+ | 30 m | Gently overhanging on good holds. Linked with pitch 7 it gives a 40 m flight on unusual holds. |
| P9 | 6b+ | 40 m | A thin move at the third bolt to pass the pillar, then another on a slab higher up. The bolts are a little further apart and the traverse feels close to 6c. Finish straight up; do not go to the bolt on the arête at the end. |
Getting there
From Corps on the N85 (Grenoble to Gap) cross the Sautet dam and drive up the Souloise gorge, beneath the Gillardes walls, to Saint-Disdier. Continue on the D917 towards Saint-Étienne-en-Dévoluy and after about 1 km take a small road on the left, past the 11th-century chapel known as the Mère Église, to the upper hamlet of Les Hauts Gicons. Turn right in the hamlet and park about 200 to 300 m further on at the large car park by the telecom mast (1362 m). There is no public transport. In June 2026 a party found the mast car park closed for works and parked a little further on.
From the car park follow the signed path to the Gicons sport crag and continue along the foot of the cliff until the path climbs to a place where several routes start. 'À la recherche...' is written at the foot. Allow about 30 minutes.
Loading map
The point marks the crag, not the exact start of the route.
Parking
Les Hauts Gicons, car park by the telecom mast (camptocamp waypoint 124724)
Point from camptocamp waypoint 41623 (Pic Crillon summit)
Contains the route point and parking. Opens in most mapping apps and GPS watches.
Points are compiled from published sources, with the precision stated above. They were not surveyed on the ground: check them against a current topo.
Coordinates: 44.74486, 5.91291 (crag) · Parking: 44.73579, 5.90940
Getting down
Either abseil the route, or walk to the summit and find an abseil station on the right, marked by a cairn. Abseil 25 m down the east side of the Piéroux, reach the meadow to the east and descend due south along the cliff. Then follow the well-marked, cairned path down the gully to the approach path and the car park, or, to return to the foot of the routes, go down a grassy combe on the right and make a second 25 m abseil. A 2025 party did the summit abseil and the walk in an hour; a 2026 party climbed and descended on a single 60 m rope and found the walk very pleasant.
Retreat
Easy to bail
Abseiling the route is one of the two descents given by camptocamp and by Guy Abert's topo, and a September 2026 party went down from the sixth belay without reporting any difficulty. The terrace after pitch 4 is a natural place to stop.
Partly inferred from the route facts
Safety
Sun and weather
West facing between about 1600 m and 1830 m. The face is in the shade until about midday according to camptocamp, and until 13:00 to 14:00 according to August 2026 parties, which makes it climbable in very hot weather with an early start. Reports run from late June to the end of September.
Sun on the wall · W-facing
Working out the sunlit hours for this month.
Sun on the wallDaylight, wall in shade● Usual season
Estimated from the wall's aspect only. Ignores surrounding terrain, gullies and the wall's exact shape. Clock times are local to the wall (Central European time), for the 15th of each month.
Climate figures for Dévoluy are not available yet
What to carry
13 quickdraws and a 50 m single rope or 2×50 m according to camptocamp; Guy Abert's topo says 15 quickdraws and a 50 m rope. Take two ropes if you plan to abseil the route, as several pitches are 40 m.
Derived from the route data; check it against a current topo
From climbers
Reader reports are not being collected yet. Until they are, check a current topo and the local club or guidebook publisher for recent changes to À la recherche de la dent perdue.
Worth knowing
Open questions
Provenance
Same area
France · Dévoluy
A recent line that has quickly become the friendly way to discover Les Gillardes: 350 m of vertical walls on flint edges, with fair grades and reassuring bolts on a cliff known for neither. Long, continuous pitches of 6b and 6b+, one of 6c, and a conglomerate finish.
6c13 pitches350 m
France · Dévoluy
Twelve pitches of easy slab on water-worn runnels up the east face of the Pic de l'Aiguille, above Gap, finishing on a summit at 2140 m. Never harder than 5b and mostly 5a, but long: allow four to five hours. The bolts are well placed and spaced, the rock is very grippy, and stonefall from the ledges and from walkers on the summit is the main thing to watch.
5b12 pitches300 m
Read the cautions
France · Dévoluy
Also known as Gic'N'Roll. A long, varied line up the south-west face of Pic Crillon, with the whole Dévoluy as a backdrop: flint-studded walls, a chimney, a fine layback corner and an airy spur, linked by easier and sometimes grassy pitches. By the easier variants it is a steady 5c outing; the original lines on pitches 6 and 10 add two 6a+ sections. You can walk off after pitch 8.
6a+11 pitches220 m
Read the cautions
France · Dévoluy
Six closely bolted pitches beside the great diagonal crack-chimney that splits the Gicons cliff, visible from the car park. Four pitches at about 5b on very grippy limestone lead to a crux where you either cross the chasm on two moves of 6b (or with the aiders in place) or climb the corner at 6a. Short, shaded until midday, and a good introduction to the Dévoluy.
6b6 pitches150 m
Around 6c+ · about 9 pitches
Morocco · Taghia
The other great classic of the Timrazine, next to L'allumeur de rêves berbères and usually quieter. Ten pitches of technical slabs and vertical walls hung above the canyon, with two big sustained 6c pitches and a few steeper, polished sections. The obligatory grade is about 6b and the grades are widely felt to be stiff.
6c+10 pitches355 m
Italy · Arco & Valle del Sarca
Eight sustained pitches up the wall opposite the Laterna restaurant, rarely easier than 6a. The crux is a short overhanging wall on pitch 5 that can be pulled through on the bolts. Less cleaned than its neighbours, with some broken rock on pitch 6.
6c+8 pitches220 m
Italy · Sardinia
A 300 m pillar on the 'Dolomite of Sardinia': a hard, smooth first pitch in a north-facing gully, long grey slabs and walls, a demanding technical crux on pitch 6, then exposed climbing on the crest of the pillar on big sculpted holds. Mountain atmosphere with sport protection.
6c9 pitches300 m
Read the cautions
Spain · Costa Blanca (Peñón de Ifach)
Nine steep pitches up the wildly sculpted right side of the south face, overhanging almost throughout. Two long 7a pitches open the route and a third comes near the top, and even the 6a+ pitches are athletic. The rock is covered in holds and much less polished than the classics to the left.
7a9 pitches310 m
Read the cautions
Compiled from published sources and last verified October 2026. Bolts, anchors and access change. Climbing is dangerous and you are responsible for your own decisions: check a current topo and read the disclaimer.